Golden Plains Shire

Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Australian place The Golden Plains Shire is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central-western part of the state. It covers an area of Template:Convert and in June 2018, had a population of 23,120.<ref name=ABSLGA/> It includes the towns of Bannockburn, Inverleigh, Lethbridge, Linton, Meredith, Rokewood, Smythesdale and Teesdale.

The Shire is governed and administered by the Golden Plains Shire Council. Its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the Golden Plains Civic Centre in Bannockburn, and it also has a service centre located in Smythesdale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

The Shire was formed on 6 May 1994 by the amalgamation of the Shire of Bannockburn (specifically, the territory remaining after part of that Shire was absorbed into the new City of Greater Geelong in May 1993), the Shire of Leigh, the bulk of the Shire of Grenville and part of the Shire of Buninyong.<ref name="Gazette" /> Upon its creation, it was known as the Southern Rural Shire and was intended to exist temporarily until the Local Government Board drew up final council boundaries for the Ballarat region.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, a few months later it was decided to make the municipality permanent, and it was renamed to Golden Plains Shire on 1 October 1994.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Victoria LGAs pre- vs post-amalgamation Golden Plains.png

Golden Plains Shire's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were in 1993

Council

Current composition

The council is composed of seven councillors elected to represent an unsubdivided municipality. The current councillors are:

Ward	Party		Councillor
Unsubdivided	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Sarah Hayden
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Des Phelan
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Brett Cunningham
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Emma Robbins
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Helena Kirby
	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Owen Sharkey
	Template:Australian party style|	Greens	Gavin Gamble

Administration and governance

The council meets on alternate months in the council chamber at the Golden Plains Civic Centre in Bannockburn, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities, and at The Well in Smythesdale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Bannockburn, and its service centre in Smythesdale.

Townships and localities

In the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 24,985, up from 21,688 in the 2016 census.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity^	690	734
Template:VICcity	37	44
Template:VICcity	5,283	6,470
Template:VICcity	27	33
Template:VICcity^	952	1,141
Template:VICcity	167	194
Template:VICcity^	40	37
Template:VICcity	251	292
Template:VICcity^	55	51
Template:VICcity	125	148
Template:VICcity	132	131
Template:VICcity^	175	176
Template:VICcity	533	664
Template:VICcity	9	12
Template:VICcity^	392	408
Template:VICcity	538	574

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	123	131
Template:VICcity	155	132
Template:VICcity^	13	15
Template:VICcity^	99	113
Template:VICcity	1,194	1,276
Template:VICcity	85	87
Template:VICcity	19	14
Template:VICcity	32	41
Template:VICcity^	1,474	1,746
Template:VICcity	1,014	1,181
Template:VICcity^	580	635
Template:VICcity	80	65
Template:VICcity	223	211
Template:VICcity^	788	821
Template:VICcity^	128	118

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity^	58	61
Template:VICcity^	9	15
Template:VICcity	69	94
Template:VICcity	131	132
Template:VICcity	553	555
Template:VICcity	122	189
Template:VICcity	173	168
Template:VICcity	37	17
Template:VICcity	48	14
Template:VICcity^	15	12
Template:VICcity	217	208
Template:VICcity	32	34
Template:VICcity	1,153	1,221
Template:VICcity	67	70
Template:VICcity	744	855

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	107	126
Template:VICcity	253	263
Template:VICcity^	1,467	1,762
Template:VICcity^	1,032	1,189
Template:VICcity	26	35
Template:VICcity	45	63
Template:VICcity	53	61
Template:VICcity	81	79
Stony Creek	6	0
Template:VICcity	108	129
Template:VICcity	1,721	2,308
Template:VICcity	37	42
Template:VICcity^	60	66
Template:VICcity	7	10
Template:VICcity^	23	26

Template:Columns-end ^ - Territory divided with another LGA

External links

• Golden Plains Shire Council official website
• Metlink local public transport map
• Link to Land Victoria interactive maps Template:Webarchive
• Template:Victorian local government areas pre-1994 vs present map link